What would a Hobbit eat?

Question

We are hosting a very small all day 'event' on Saturday: the viewing of the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy. So what should I serve? We like a lot of flavor, doesn't have to be too upscale but doesn't have to be low-brow either - I'm mainly looking for fairly simple on the day of, but I'm willing to spend the day before in preparation. Again, this is all day so several small things or something we can eat all day long, preferably (It is 12 hours long). Any ideas? I can't really think of a theme in this case....

Answer

English country foods-- lots of beer and cider, apples, and things like bangers and mash with onion gravy, bubble and squeak, a roasted turkey or chicken. Or a brace of coneys (rabbits) and roasted taters, as seen in the exchange between Gollum and Sam in Two Towers. The beginning of the Fellowship book has a section "On Hobbits" that states that Hobbits like straightforward, hearty fare, and love their beer. 
 
Or you could go the gross angle, and have raw fish for Gollum, and "nuffing but maggoty bread for free whole days" in honor of the fighting Uruk-hai. Oh, and some link sausages and carpaccio in honor of the fight they have right afterward about fresh meat. ("What about them? They're fresh!")
 
On an archived General Topics (or Not About Food?) board around this time last year, there was a long discussion of food references in the trilogy. You might find some ideas there.
 
And yes, I am a LOTR dork.

Answer

As I recall, they are passionately fond of mushrooms...

Answer

You could go a different way with this and serve foods from New Zealand, since that's where they filmed the trilogy . . . but I'm not familiar with Kiwi cuisine so I don't know what that would be. Anyway, just a thought.

Answer

This may have been in The Hobbit, rather than in the trilogy, but I seem to recall that they ate something called bannock, which was a type of bread (I think).

Answer

Definitely English country cooking. I just watched the LOTR films again over the past several nights, and recall seeing large pumpkins in several of the party scenes, so perhaps pumpkin pies or pumpkin soup could be part of your feast.

Answer

Definitely the rabbit stew and mushrooms!
 
Another interesting idea might be to fake some Lembas Bread- make some shortbread cookies, about 3" square, and wrap them in little banana leaf packages before your guests arrive.

Answer

Apparently some LOTR freak (and I mean that in the nicest way) put on a Hobbit Dinner which is described in the article below which has some recipes. And even put out a cookbook....

Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20020919middleearth0919fnp3.asp

Answer

In "The Hobbit," check out the chapter right at the beginning where the dwarves have tea with Bilbo.

Answer

I would reccommend simple country foods, and English food in particular. Some nice cheese, bangers and mash, a roast pork loin and/or a leg of lamb plus maybe a roast eye of the round to slice for sandwiches, root vegetables roasted or boiled, yeast bread or rolls, cakes and muffins, scones with honey, jam and clotted cream, a few pots of tea, maybe some nice wines and hearty beers/ales ("It comes in pints!"), oh man I am sure hungry now. I can't wait until my son is old enough for this celebration. 
 
Let us know how it goes!

Answer

About 25 years ago, I read "The Hobbit" and the Trilogy to my kids. They became huge fans and still are. To assuage their disappointment that there were no more books about Hobbits, we got them a calendar with illustrations of scenes and dates of events from the books listed. 
 
One day, I noticed that in about three weeks, a date listed as the day of "the unexpected party" from "The Hobbit" was coming up. 
 
Of course, it might not mean that much to someone whose only experience of Tolkien is the movie Trilogy, but all the items are ones that were in Bilbo's pantry.
 
I planned ahead, got some small toy Tolkien figures, even went to Chinatown and found a Golden Dragon. 
 
When the appointed day came, we had our own unexpected party with just about every dish that the dwarves had demanded of Bilbo. The toys formed a centerpiece. Don't have a copy of the books with me at the moment, but I recall the menu did include seed cakes, eggs and cold chicken and tomatoes.
 
It took the kids totally by surprise, but they loved it and still talk about occasionally. 
 
You can find the entire menu in the chapter "An Unexpected Party" early in "The Hobbit." It might not mean that much to someone whose only experience of Tolkien has been the movie trilogy, but all those items were found in Bilbo's pantry.

Answer

Breakfast – toast, eggs, and sausages 
Second breakfast – Aragorn’s apples (raw, with caramel dip, or baked w/brown sugar) 
Elevenses – shortcut to stuffed mushrooms 
Luncheon – Grilled parmesan tomatoes & crispy bacon 
Afternoon tea – Earl Grey & Lembas bread 
Dinner – Samwise Gamgee’s Potato soup 
Supper – bread, cold chicken, cheese, pickles, summer sausage, and crackers

Here is a link to some recipes ... if you ever do it again. http://lotrscrapbook.bookloaf.net/other/recipes.html#23

Answer

One thing I've always remembered (maybe from The Hobbit?) was thick slices of fresh bread slathered with butter and honey.

Answer

I think your task is so monumental that you can't do a theme. You are going to have to feed these people a couple of meals plus a continuous flow of snacks and beverages. The only theme you could do is a have everybody come in costume.

I would have a braise already prepared... perhaps chile and rice which could be in crockpots. For the other meal, perhaps spaghetti and meat sauce. You could have the meat sauce already prepared and just cook the pasta. 

You will need a continuous flow of snacks like popcorn, chips, crackers and french bread.
You will need several dips. Spinach dip is particularly good.

Shoot... I just responded to a 7 year old post.
And, of course, you will need a a continuous flow of liquids... beer, sodas, bottled water, wine. 

I do not envy you. Good luck.

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